Sunday, December 30, 2012

I hope that you have had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and that Santa was good to you too!

My family and I had a very quiet Christmas ~ it was just us four. Well, quiet up to a point of course because when my youngest daughter Caylagh opens her presents it is never quiet in the house.

We have a very neat tradition at Christmas. We hold back one present for our treasure hunt that takes place every Christmas day in the evening just when you think all the excitement is over. I make up clues that the girls have to solve to find their last gift. It is so much fun to watch the girls trying to figure out where they might find their next clue to get one step closer to their final present.

I am very happy because everything came together in the end. I made my last gift which was the microwave heating pillow. My Christmas dinner worked out very well and according to my hubby dinner was the best ever and during the entire dinner he kept telling me so which was about 30 times!! (I was very happy!)

And I have been spoilt ~ so spoilt again with beautiful gifts from my lovely family. They are all my favourites too so I can't just tell you about one and not the other.

This is a little 'putz house' is actually a Christmas tree ornament and it even lights up!

A precious rosary ~ just so beautiful!

A cute little trinket box with a little sparkely bee on it.

A vintage dollar coin from British Columbia.

An antique little crochet bag.

A stunning bronze of a kingfisher.

A new backpack from Roots and last but not least ...

... new winter boots so my toes stay warm when I shovel snow.

I received one more gift, which was a evening at the theater with my older daughter Ashleigh, but I will tell you more about that in my next post.

As you can see, my family is so generous to me at Christmas even though I tell them that I don't need or want anything apart from peace and harmony. A little gift is perfect but they spoil me every year.

You know ... just watching my girls open their presents and the smiles on their faces is a gift for me already and it is the best one of all.

My dear friends, I hope you are well and life is treating you very kind.

Our cats like the tree so much that they take turns sleeping underneath it.

We were lucky that we had a little snow and I was able to find my outdoor lights in my basement mess and ...

... everything is so magical outside at night.

(sorry, if the pictures are a bit blurred)

In our home we have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and not Christmas Day. We started to do this many years ago whilst my husband was still in the military. It worked for us to ensure we would have plenty of time on Christmas Day to have fun with our girls and not having to be in the kitchen all day. So my turkey is already roasted as I am writing this post to share with you. I would like to share something else with you today. I learnt this from my husband, who is British. It is something that is done in the UK when cooking your Christmas turkey.

~

~ Bacon wrapped sausages ~~

Take a packet of breakfast sausages and a packet of bacon. Cut the sausages into halves and the bacon slices in half. Then wrap a piece of bacon around a half of breakfast sausage and using a toothpick attack it by sticking the toothpick into the turkey. Once cooked and a nice golden brown color, take them off the turkey and set them aside for dinner. These little tasty bits will baste your turkey so nicely and they taste so good too.

~

I have a few more last gifts to wrap to get everything ready for tomorrow and I actually have to make one last gift today still ~ it is a heating pillow that can be placed in the microwave and it's a little something for my hubby. Otherwise I think and hope I have everything else done. The last thing I have to do right now is ...

... to wish you a wonderful Christmas Eve!!!

This evening hug your child or children a little longer and think how blessed you are that you can do so. Or if you don't have children, hug your husband, wife or partner. Hug your sister, brother, mother, father or friend.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

making a 'Heart~Felt' is not just about the creation; I think of the meaning behind it and how happy I would be to receive something like this. To know that the person that gave it to me cares about me and as small as this heart is in a way, the love and thoughts that come with it are immense.

Today I would like to share my pearl 'Heart~Felt' with you.

I have so much joy making these little hearts ~ it is a feeling of calmness, warmth and love I have with each one I create and that is what I put into each one.

I haven't been able to do as much as I was planning on doing this Christmas. I have more ideas waiting to be created and some already started but not enough time to finish this year, so I am going to have to let them lie and wait until the next festive season in new year. I do have one or two projects that I will finsh for sure and share with you soon hopefully.

Last but not least ... our basement renovation.

Where should I start ... I am sad that things haven't gone as well as I would have liked. Quite a few mistakes were made along the way, and although they were fixed, they are the kind of mistakes that shouldn't have happened in the first place. I am sad because when something is very expensive and costs a lot of money you would hope that it would be done properly the first time without you having to redo things. Well, it seems it doesn't always work that way. We are going to have to redo some of the work to get it done the right way, thankfully there isn't too much.

We will be working in the basement in between the holidays to get as much done before hubby has to return to work. I will share new photos with you very soon to show you how things have turned out.

Friday, December 21, 2012

today I am sharing a little creation with you that I made this last weekend. I had bought a little box full of older English stamps at a flea market last year and then it ended up in a far corner of a drawer of my crafting drawers until now. It is such neat little tattered old box. It was used many years ago to sent something to some one ~ I think lenses for eye glasses. It still has the original mailing address on it and stamp too. Normally I would have just put it back again and say to myself that I would use it another time but this time I decided to keep it out and think of something to do with it and that is exactly what I did.

As you know I love making match box creations and this box was just bigger than a match box and once I knew what I was going to use it for it was the perfect little box. One of the other main pieces that made this creation come together was found at a church sale buy my daughter Ashleigh and as soon as she showed it to me I knew I would want to use it in this creation ~ you will see what I mean.

So ... that all the talking for now. I have taken many pictures for you so you won't miss a thing.

And now this is my little old box creation ...

'Tis The Night Before Christmas'.

As you can see I used all my favourite things like crystal glitter, miniature pine cones, snippets of vintage lace and tiny jingle bells.

I added the the vintage English stamp on the top of the box ...

... and the stamp on the side is the original Canadian stamp that was used so long ago.

I love all the original detail that this little box has.

There he is ... Santa with his reindeer flying in the night skies!

The little Santa in his sleigh ...

... and his reindeer were the church sale finding I was telling you about earlier ~ they are actually lapel pins.

Another part of this creation is the little house which is one of my daughter Ashleigh's Monopoly houses she so kindly gave me. I covered it with old book pages and gave the roof a fresh fall of snow.

I am so happy with the outcome of this creation ... it truly is a little Christmas in a tattered old box.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest creation ~ I so love making it!It would be nice for you to visit me sometime again ~ here at Todolwen.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

I have tried not to shop for treasures to create with for a while but to try and use my treasures and goodies that I already have first but as you all know I am sure that can be very difficult at times which it proved to be yesterday and ... I lost the battle with myself!...But I did find a few very neat things to create with!!

Canadian Tire had already put all their Christmas decorations on sale and because I didn't know about the sale I unfortunately missed out on new outdoor lights for the house. Instead I found the neatest little ceramic white bird houses which are a Debbie Travis design. I like their simplicity ~ it gives me more to work with I think.

Aren't they just so cute?!I am going to try and leave them until next Winter before I work with them. Will I leave them? ... only time will tell.

And of course Michaels was one of the other stores I just had a little look at and I also found something really nice that I would normally not think of buying but this year I did! It was a packet of silver cake doilies with so much detail ~ just so pretty!

All the detail ~ beautiful!Just like with my other finding I am going to try and leave these alone until next year's Christmas.

I have been working on a few Christmas creations these past days and I am hoping to share them with you in the next few days. So ... do stop by and visit me here at Todolwen soon again.

Monday, December 17, 2012

I would like to share anther little 'Heart~Felt' I made with you. To create this one I used a piece from an old sweater that I had left over from making my Christmas Nest. I felted the piece a total of three times before I was happy with it and then turned it into a presious new 'Heart~Felt'.

This 'Heart~Felt' is a bit more rustic and chunky than my others but still just as meaningful and made with much love and caring thoughts too.

And here is my angel 'Heart~Felt'.

I love the rustic look of the felted sweater piece that gives this 'Heart~Felt' a lot of it's character.

In my book everybody should have a little angel in their life.

When ever you have a moment why not stop by and visit me here at Todolwen again.

Now Closed ...

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About Me

My name is Karen Bailey, and my passion aside from my family is finding old things and crafting. I love walking through antique stores and other interesting places to search for new treasures that I can use for my crafts or for my home.

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